Gangster Abu Salem is set to contest next year's elections to the Uttar Pradesh assembly from Mubarakpur constituency as an independent and has applied for the inclusion of his name in the state voters' list, his lawyer said on Friday.

"He has forwarded all necessary documents for inclusion of his name in the voters' list to the district magistrate. Earlier, he had applied to the tehsildar (revenue official) as well," lawyer Ashok Sarogi told PTI in Mumbai.

The updated voters' list for the constituency is expected to be issued on January 3. The term of the Uttar Pradesh assembly ends in the middle of next year.

"We are very confident of his name being included in the list. I submitted Salem's documents to the District Magistrate," Sarogi said.

Last month, posters and banners of the incarcerated don, greeting people on the occasion of Diwali and Eid, had sprung up in the constituencies dominated by Muslims.

The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Shiv Sena has already pledged support for Salem, whose campaign managers are reportedly in talks with other political parties.

Salem's family members and Sarogi will manage his poll campaign.

The gangster was extradited in November 2005 with his companion, starlet Monica Bedi, from Portugal.

Salem, currently held in Arthur Road prison in Mumbai, is an accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case.

He is also an accused in the murders of city builder Pradeep Jain and actress Manisha Koirala's assistant Ajit Dewani.